Li Xianzhi went back to the house, took a letter of fifty taels of silver, and ordered Jin Shun'er to go to the largest Su Jin shop on the street and buy five fine satin as gifts. asked Han Chu'er to wait for a change of clothes, took off the original clothes, changed them to a plain silk straight embellished, covered with a lake blue round-necked silk robe, tied a brocade belt, and wore a gauze hat.

As soon as Fang went out, Jin Shun'er led two servants back with a big wooden box. Jin Shun'er opened the lid of the box and let Li Xianzhi look at it. Li Xianzhi glanced at it, and it was a brocade of red, green, purple, blue, and blue.

Everything was picked up and stopped, and when he went out of the gate, a small sedan chair that Han Chu'er had hired was waiting in front of the door. Li Xian got on the sedan chair, and the little servant of the Zhou Mansion led him to the Zhou Mansion. On the way, I bought two catties of new tea and two catties of ripe tea, and brought them with me.

Not long after, in front of the Zhou Mansion, Li Xian got off the sedan chair, looked up, and saw that although the Zhou family's house was not very big, it was also a vermilion wall and green tile, and the courtyard was forested, which was very magnificent.

Just watching, Shopkeeper Zhou came out and said, "My master is waiting for Master Li in the main hall, please come in." ”

Li Xianzhi took out a tael of silver and gave it to Jin Shun'er, and asked him to send the two Su Jinpu guys. Then he followed Steward Zhou inside, and when he arrived at the main hall, he saw Zhou Lang sitting in the hall, and there was another person to accompany him.

Li Xianzhi entered the hall and hurriedly said, "The student is polite." ”

Zhou Langzhong got up and said, "You and I are out of the same door, why do you need to make this big gift?" Get up and take a seat. ”

Li Xianzhi got up, and before he sat down, Zhou Langzhong pointed to the person who had just sat down, and said: "This is the same Gongshi as you, surnamed Huang Jingfang, the word is too childish, and he is from Jinjiang, Fujian. When the old man was a scholar in Fujian, he was already a person, met by chance, and admired his knowledge and character very much, and he was a friend of the year. I would like to invite you to come and meet you. ”

Li Xianzhi thanked Zhou Langzhong for his kindness, and greeted Huang Jingfang, seeing that he was twenty-eight or nineteen years old, burly, purple, with a short beard under his chin, a gauze hat, and a round neck, quite heroic.

The two men bowed to each other, sat down separately, and the next person brought tea. Zhou Langzhong took a sip of tea and said, "Teacher, I am supervising the school outside, and I can't send it, thanks to Xianzhi taking care of the aftermath." I transferred to Fujian, passing through the hometown of my teacher, so that I could go to the grave to pay respects, and handed over a watch to the imperial court, asked for a nickname for his old man, and paid for the construction of an ancestral hall to receive incense. ”

Li Xianzhi said: "It's still Lord Zhou who is thoughtful. ”

Zhou Langzhong waved his hand and said: "One day as a teacher, a lifetime as a father, just do a little bit of heart." Don't talk about it, you and I are the same class, and I will pull you into school, and I will be your teacher, so I specially called you here today, and I have something to tell you. ”

Li Xianzhi owed and said: "Listen to Zhou Langzhong's teachings." ”

Zhou Langzhong said: "The two of you will pass the test today, and you are from the imperial court." The palace has tried, and it will be released, and as soon as it enters the officialdom, it will be the ups and downs of the sea of eunuchs, and many of them must be known. Your knowledge and character are good, but now the officialdom is not peaceful, and the upright and selfless are often persecuted, so you should associate more with like-minded people, and you may help each other in eagerness, so that you will not be murdered by traitors. ”

Li Xianzhi and Huang Jingfang got up and said together: "Students remember. ”

Zhou Langzhong said again: "Do you know the master who will take the test this time? ”

Huang Jingfang said: "Students know. It is an editor surnamed Zhuang Jichang, and the student is the same Jinjiang person, the student lives in Dongshi Township, and the Zhuang adult lives in Qingyang Township. Speaking of which, the student and Zhuang Daren are both the 43 years of Wanli, but the next year Zhuang Daren won the champion, but the student fell off the list, and now he has become the student's teacher, which is also the creation. ”

Zhou Langzhong said with a smile: "Since the imperial examination, there have been seventeen or eighteen-year-old young jinshi, and there are also seventy or eighty years old who can't pass the exam, it's hard to say such a thing." I also know Zhuang Bianxiu, every time I go back to Beijing, I see him in the old mansion of Han Ge, and there are many like-minded adults, and I will introduce you one by one in the future. ”

Li Xianzhi and Huang Jingfang got up and thanked them, and said some more gossip. Zhou Langzhong left the two of them to eat in the house, and it was only after dusk that they dispersed and rested. Buri Hall tried out, put the gold list, Huang Jingfang was ranked nineteenth in the second class, and was born as a jinshi; Li Xianzhi ranked in the top 30 and was born as a jinshi.

Li Xianzhi waited in the inn, waiting for the person to come with the good news, so he was promoted to a seat in the apartment. The next day, the emperor ordered to set up a banquet in the Ministry of Rites, and the chief and deputy examiners, the scholars and servants of the Ministry of Rites, as well as the receiving papers, sealing the seals, receiving the palms, supervising the examinations, filling in the lists, printing the papers, supplying, and praising the officials and new science and technology scholars attended the banquet together.

During the banquet, the new scholars first thanked God, and then bowed to the examiner - because of this exam, they and the examiners who had never known each other formed an incomprehensible teacher-student status in this life, which is extremely important in the officialdom, related to career and even life.

The Enrong banquet was lively in the middle of the night, and the examiners led by Zhuang Jichang and the adults of the Ministry of Rites left one after another, and soon the remaining officials also left. The new science and technology scholars talked happily one by one, and enjoyed themselves unbridledly, until dawn.

Li Xian's treatment was boring, and he pulled Huang Jingfang out of the Ministry of Rites halfway. The streets were dark, and there was no good place to go, so I invited him to his apartment, called the shopkeeper, rewarded him with some silver, and let him cook wine.

For the sake of the money, the shopkeeper endured the anger of being disturbed by the sweet dream, quickly set the table with wine and food, and went to sleep again.

Li Xianzhi and Huang Jingfang were drinking and gossiping at the same time, and they had to say some ambitions and ideals, the situation between the DPRK and China, the more they talked, the more speculative they became, and when it came to Tianming, they dispersed.

Huang Jingfang said goodbye and returned to his apartment, Li Xianzhi's wine came up, and he lay down in his clothes. Until the day was about to be dusk, he was still asleep. The shopkeeper suddenly broke into Jin Shun'er and Han Chu'er's room and shouted, "There are guests outside the door to invite Master Li to the banquet." ”

After the two listened, Jin Shun'er went out first, and then, Han Chu'er ran over to wake up Li Xianzhi and told him about someone outside the door. Li Xianzhi rubbed his drunken eyes and just got up, Jin Shun'er ran in and said, "It's still from the Zhou Mansion the day before yesterday, please come over later." I've answered for my son. ”

Li Xianzhi had already made an appointment with Huang Jingfang to visit Zhou's mansion in the coming day, but unexpectedly, Zhou Langzhong invited him at night, which made him can't help but beat a drum in his heart. Despite this, he still freshened up and changed his clothes, went to Zhou's mansion, and when he arrived at the gate of the mansion, he saw that Huang Jingfang had just arrived.

The two of them greeted each other in front of the door, muttered a few words, and were led into the courtyard by the doorman, and were led by a small servant dressed as a scholar, and did not go to the main hall, but turned into a secluded courtyard, where the dim candlelight flashed.

When the two of them didn't know why, the scholar came in and said, "My master invited the two masters to enter." ”

The two of them glanced at each other, and entered the back room, only to see that there was only one candle lit inside, and there were five or six figures in the dim candlelight. Zhou Langzhong, who was sitting on the main seat, got up and walked over, stood beside the two of them and introduced them to several other people, and then said: "These two are both reliable people with good conduct and good conduct. ”

Then, Zhou Langzhong introduced several guests who came early to Li Xianzhi and Huang Jingfang. Through the dim light, Li Xianzhi vaguely saw that one of them was Zhuang Jichang, the chief examiner of the new subject. Huang Jingfang obviously recognized it, and without waiting for Zhou Langzhong to introduce him, the two knelt in front of Zhuang Jichang and kowtowed three times. Zhou Lang waited for the two to salute, and then introduced the others. One is Yu Huang, the champion of the new department, and the other two are also Zhang Fengyi and Chen Shiqi, who are also new science and technology scholars.

After the introduction, they each sat down. Zhuang Jichang took the lead and said: "Thanks to the emperor's kindness, I will take the position of the main examination for my lack of talent and choose materials for the imperial court." It is a great honor for you to wait for ten years of suffering from the cold window, and jump into the dragon gate from thousands of scholars and become a protégé of the Son of Heaven! Once an official, he should share his worries for the Son of Heaven, seek happiness for the people, and establish his own life; The idea of getting promoted and getting rich, going around camping, and even not hesitating to become a thief is absolutely unacceptable. I also hope that you will take this as a warning, clean yourself, and don't lose your footing and drink hatred. ”

Yu Huang, Huang Jingfang, Zhang Fengyi, Chen Shiqi, and Li Xianzhi all got up and left their seats, and bowed: "Students remember it in their hearts. With that, they sat down separately.

Zhou Langzhong said: "Now that the traitorous eunuchs are in power, the group of murders is in power, Ye and Han have been squeezed out of the court, and six ministers such as Yang and Zuo have been persecuted to death. We are suffering from an unprecedented disaster, and the world will be in danger of the building overturning. ”

At this point, Li Xianzhi understood the identities of the two adults in front of him, and they were the famous Donglin Party members in history. The Ye and Han mentioned by Zhou Lang are Ye Xianggao and Han Yi, two cabinet assistants; Yang, Zuo and the other six are Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou, Wei Dazhong, Zhou Chaorui, Yuan Huazhong, and Gu Dazhang, who are known as the "Six Gentlemen of Donglin" - not long ago, they died tragically in Jinyiwei Prison.

The Donglin Party had suffered heavy losses and was in dire need of new members. Li Xianzhi was honored to be favored by this group of self-esteemed people, and at the same time, he also felt that he was gradually falling into a huge net.

Everyone in the audience was silent about Zhou Langzhong's questioning, and after a while, the champion Yu Huang stood up and said: "I will wait for the grace of heaven, and I should repay him with death, and I will listen to the arrangement of the two adults." "All the jinshi should be together.

Zhou Langzhong said: "I don't have any arrangements with Lord Zhuang, I just hope that all the virtuous scholars will not forget the teachings of the saints, and they can stand up and support justice when it is critical." All the scholars replied together: "Students remember. ”

That night, after talking for half the night, they first remembered a few of their colleagues who had been killed, and then bitterly scolded the eunuchs who had brought disaster to the country and the government, and each was filled with righteous indignation, jealousy and hatred, and discussed ways to deal with them.

Li Xianzhi knew that Emperor Tianqi would die two years later and Emperor Chongzhen would succeed him, and at that time, the eunuchs led by Wei Zhongxian would be eradicated. Although he can't divulge the heavenly opportunity at this time, the victory of the Donglin Party is not far away, and it is very likely that he will take advantage of this to rise to prominence at that time.

When it was about to be ugly, the party was dispersed. Li Xianzhi said goodbye to everyone one by one and returned to the apartment to rest.

In a few days, the officials were written, and the new branch was released. Yu Huang and Huang Jingfang ordered Shu Jishi and entered the Hanlin Academy; Zhang Fengyi nodded to the imperial history; Chen Shiqi was awarded the official scholar; Li Xianzhi made up for Pinghu Zhi County, Jiaxing Prefecture, Zhejiang.

Everyone stayed in Beijing, and only Li Xian was released. first went to the ministry to receive the official certificate, and then went to Zhuang Bianxiu and Zhou Langzhongfu to pay their respects.

Although Yu Huang, Huang Jingfang, Zhang Fengyi, and Chen Shiqi have not known Li Xianzhi for a long time, they have a friendship of the same year and are like-minded, so they set up a banquet to see them off like old friends who have known each other for a long time.

After the banquet, I went on an outing in various monuments outside the capital for a day, chanting poems against each other, very happy, and in the evening, I got drunk again.

Early the next morning, everyone went to work. Li Xianzhi postponed for another day, wrote a letter to his family and returned to Yulin, and left a book for You Shiwei, who had been promoted to a general, before packing his luggage and preparing to leave for his post.